Pre Interview Tips

• Planning is everything, as ever.  Create a job description for the role.  Firstly, list key responsibilities and then expand this to more fully describe the requirements.  You may find that there are small details during this process that you would have otherwise overlooked.
• There are a whole range of advertising opportunities, from shop windows to recruitment sites and resume sites.  Advertise on several of these; try to focus your search as you don’t want to be swamped by applicants – although given the state of the employment market this may well happen!
• For professional recruitment help you may decide to use an agency, this can take some of the pressure off yourself, but for many small businesses the working relationship with your new employee will be a close one and you should be as closely involved at all stages as possible.
• Prepare your questions for interview well in advance and stick to these with each individual.  You can tailor specifics for each one based on their application or resume, but to create an equal chance for all always use a basic set of questions.
• Check resumes and applications closely.  One thing to avoid at this stage is discrimination.  Apart from the obvious legalities, assumptions are full of pitfalls.  Those from ‘poor’ neighbourhoods and ‘bad’ schools who have worked hard to gain qualifications may already have demonstrated some strong personal qualities.  Older applicants come with a host of life skills built-in, which can be incredibly useful in small firms.  Don’t discount anyone and try to think beyond the obvious.

Interviewing Candidates

• There are a range of useful tools on the internet that can be used at interview stage, including character assessments and skill tests.  These are useful, but don’t completely discount gut instinct.
• Make time for the interviews, this is a crucial stage in the life of your business and it deserves not to be rushed.  Interview between three and six candidates as a minimum and allow at least thirty minutes per interview.
• Have your rejection letters and offer letter ready in advance; a good candidate is likely to be in demand, if you find one, don’t give it chance to slip away.  Obviously we’re not talking at interview stage, but be prepared to make time to make your decision and then act on it promptly.
• Don’t skimp on background checks, offers can always be made subject to references.  Follow up references and be sure that you are happy before confirming the appointment.

Final Words

There are two sensible approaches to employing any employee; a trial period is a good idea and is standard in most industries.  Payroll software should never be an afterthought and should be in place, ready and working and you should be familiar with it before your employee starts.

Author bio

Simon Wilson blogs about small business issues and general business help for SME’s, covering everything from ‘how businesses can use make use of Social Media’ to’ tutorials for QuickBooks online accounting’. When he’s not online Simon enjoys swimming, cycling and travelling around the many sights of Europe.

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2. When Being an Employee is a Good Thing.

Freshbooks Tax Thursdays – Get Ready for the Home Stretch

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I was listening to the latest episode of the Planet Money podcast. Not surprisingly, they’re talking about income tax. It’s a really good episode, that discusses how the US came to have an income tax. One of the ways they tried to cushion the news to the American people was through a famous…duck?

Yep, Disney was commissioned to put out a short film featuring Donald Duck, to let everyone know that paying your taxes was a good (and patriotic) idea. I guess if the grumpy duck could get behind the idea, anyone could.

Enjoy. And, don’t forget, if you have any questions about your tax return, don’t hesitate to contact me.

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In today’s tough economy, it can be difficult for a business to obtain the financing they need for start up costs or for expanding their current business. Alternative business financing options can provide the business the funds they need in non-traditional ways. Here are four alternative business financing options that can turn the “no” from a bank into cash for your business.

Angel Investors

Angel investors are typically private affluent entrepreneurs who use their personal funds to invest in businesses. They provide the necessary financing in exchange for equity ownership. In general, angel investors invest in industries they are familiar with and have either worked in or invested in previously. They bring a valuable voice of experience and an already established network that can give your business an edge against your bank-funded competition. According to recent statistics, approximately 2/3 of new business funding is obtained through angel investors.

Venture Capitalists

Venture capitalists are similar to angel investors, but rather than investing their own money, they invest from a pool of funds from their clients. Typically, venture capitalists fund large projects that require substantial financing. They also tend to stick with high-risk/high-reward opportunities. They provide financing in exchange for stocks or shares of your business and once your business reaches a certain size and market value, they liquidate their stocks. Venture capitalist funding is not a loan that needs to be repaid rather they receive their cash when your business goes public or when it is acquired by another company.

Crowd Sourcing

The term crowd sourcing has been around since 2006, but the concept has only recently started to grow in popularity. One way to improve your chances of obtaining the business capital you need is through peer to peer (P2P) lending or crowd sourcing. P2P lending is financing you receive from the average person in small increments until you have the total amount needed. There are websites dedicated to hooking up potential business owners with potential lenders. Crowd sourcing works in similar ways and allows you to obtain the funding you need from multiple sources in exchange for an offered benefit from you to the lender. It can be shares in the company, free products or services or some other mutually agreeable perk. There are many crowd sourcing sites available online.

Bootstrapping

Bootstrapping refers to a business that starts up with no external help. It is solely financed by their own personal funds and if done correctly, can allow you to retain sole ownership of your business, provide more freedom and flexibility and make your business more appealing for future investors. Bootstrapping your business also forces you to focus solely on pleasing your customer rather than worrying about your angel or venture capitalist investor’s demands. When a business is financed and depends on personal funds and cash flow generated by the business, there is a more concentrated effort to succeed. It is more difficult to lose your own funds rather than the funds from strangers you have never met.

Sara Mackey works for Connexx.com, an authoritative guide in the field of small business finance. She has worked in small business financing for nearly a decade.

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Hey everyone.

I hope that you and your businesses are having a good 2012 so far.

I wanted to give you a bit of a heads up about the site, and some news about upcoming posts.

The Site

After a really terrible personal tragedy struck my family at the beginning of the year, I realized that I needed to simplify things in my business. Part of that is obviously this site.

As a geek, I have always spent a great deal of time tinkering with things. This is a great source of fun for me, but it’s terrible for productivity. This site is no exception to the rule. As you can probably tell, this site is currently based on WordPress. The great thing about WP is also the terrible thing about WP. There are endless themes, plugins, and tweaks that can be done to customize a WP site. If I had a lick of design talent, this would be a very powerful asset. However, in my case, it’s just another time sink. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spent a good chunk of my Saturday afternoons pouring over new themes I could use, new plugins to make it easier to share content with {insert social media site here}. In the end, I don’t think any of that time was used effectively. I’d rather just sit in front of a text editor and crank out a few posts instead.

So, at some point in the near future, I’ll be switching this site over to Squarespace. Although it’s also a very powerful platform, where design or code savvy people can bend it to their will, it’s also great as-is. I think it will force me to spend more time writing, and less time tracking down widgets and installing updates.

I’m also happy to announce that I’m moving the domain away from GoDaddy. The allure of buying whatever domain popped into my head for a few bucks drew me into GoDaddy in the beginning. However, the nauseating ads and the equally nauseating CEO finally pushed me over the edge. Whenever I get the site moved over to Squarespace, I’ll also be transferring the domain over to hover.com. I’ve already moved every other domain I own over there, but I just wanted to be extra careful with this one.

Why am I telling you all this?

Just to give you a heads up, in case I do something stupid and the site is down at any point. Hopefully things will go smoothly, but if you head over here one morning and things are missing, don’t freak out. I’m not gone…I just pushed the wrong button by mistake.

Other Updates

I’m in need of a new computer. My Dell Studio 15 likes to shut off once a day at random times for no good reason. I have a feeling the heatsink on the CPU is slightly detached, which is causing it to overheat. Whatever the cause, having a work computer do that in the middle of an important project is a big pain. Plus, it’s over 2 years old now, and is having a hard time keeping up with the myriad of tabs and apps that I have running 24/7.

I’m 95% sure that I’m going to do the big switch to a Mac. Continuing with my desire to simplify my life, I’m just too busy to be tinkering around with fussy Windows PC’s on a daily basis. This is the 2nd Dell laptop in a row…both have become plagued with problems shortly after the warranty expired. As you may remember, I also tried to do an experiment with bookkeeping on Linux. I absolutely love working with Ubuntu, but it’s just not well suited for my line of work. And, once again, it became a real time sink, which I want to avoid this year.

When I looked at the shelf behind my desk, and saw the giant stack of iOS-based products that I’ve bought (and loved) over the years, I realized that Apple products have always “just worked”.

Anyway, all that means to the site is that I’m looking forward to writing about bookkeeping on a Mac. I don’t think it’s a field that gets a lot of attention, so maybe I can add something to the space.

Newsletter

I was recently approached to write a guest post for VirtualAssistants.com. The post ended up as a part of their most recent newsletter. You can check out the newsletter here. A big thanks to Belinda over at the site, who was absolutely great to work with.

Guest Post

On Tuesday next week, there will be another guest post on this site. Sara Mackey over at  Connexx.com wrote a great post about ways to finance your business. I think it will be good information for any of you who are looking for outside funding.

I hope you all have a great weekend. If you’re reading this in Canada, don’t forget that your kids will probably be home next week. If you work from home, this means you won’t get much done. So, instead of fighting it, make sure to unplug a bit more than normal, and enjoy the company. Or, if you’re a jerk like me…enjoy the fact that you’ll have unpaid interns at your disposal for the mundane office tasks you usually loathe.

You can thank me later.

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When I was a kid, banking was pretty basic. I’d grab my passbook, hop in the car with my parents, and head down to the branch. Once there, I’d fill out a withdrawal slip and wait in line. A few minutes later, I’d have enough cash in hand for a few trips to 7-11, and a new entry in my passbook. I could take out as much or as little as I wanted, and in any crazy denomination I requested.

Sometime in my teenage years, ATM’s and debit cards became popular. How convenient! Instead of going into the branch, I could drive through and get my 7-11 money. Unfortunately, it was soon after that the arbitrary restrictions began. Suddenly, there was only one bank left in town that would dispense anything smaller than a $20. Ironically, it seemed like I always had about $17 in my account. If it was late at night, and I really needed $20, I would find myself depositing $5 just so I could get back a full $20.

From those times back in the 90’s until now, a lot has changed. We’ve been told it’s for the better. Some of it I do understand. Cheques became obsolete in personal shopping due to fraud. The other thing that fraud did was limit how much money we could get out of an ATM, especially after making a deposit. Now, I don’t think I really tested the limits of this as a teenager, but I know that anything I deposited into my account at an ATM was immediately available. After x amount of people deposited an empty envelope into the ATM and pulled out $1000, they decided that this needed to be fixed. Now, at the banks that allow it, you can usually get about $200 back from what you deposit. The rest gets held for 7-10 business days.

The reason I’m writing all of this is because the limitations have become very frustrating to me recently.

As you can imagine, a big chunk of my day revolves around the banking system. I am constantly monitoring bank accounts for deposits and cheques clearing. The other thing I need to do a lot of is move money from one account to another. There are many reasons for this. Sometimes I need to move money from a chequing account to a credit card. Sometimes it’s money between accounts at different banks. Other times it’s making direct payments to vendors and staff, usually via email money transfers (or e-transfers as they’re now called). Over the past year this has become more and more difficult to pull off, and it’s taking up far too much of my day, simply because of arbitrary policies.

I’ll give you one example to illustrate my point. I’ve got a credit card at Bank A. I need to get money onto the card to pay a vendor. I’ve got money in a chequing account at Bank B. Let’s say the amount is $3000 that needs to go onto the credit card. Of the banks I’ve ever used, only 1 will let me move $3000 via e-transfer. It’s not Banks A or B. And, the banks that let you money $1000 or $2000 per day usually have a $7000-10000 monthly limit. This is just fine for most personal accounts, but completely useless in most product-reliant small businesses. And, this is a head office, written in stone policy. This isn’t like a credit limit on a Visa. You can’t talk to your branch and have them raise the limit. Trust me, I’ve tried. If Bank A has a limit of $7000 on monthly e-transfers, then that’s what it’s going to be.

Fine.

I’ll go down to the branch, get a draft for $3000 from Bank B, and deposit it into Bank A. A waste of 1 hour of my day, and $6.50. Guess what? Due to recent fraud worries, all banks in Canada treat a bank draft (you know, the guaranteed funds you pay an extra $6.50 to obtain) as a cheque, and now hold those funds for at least 5 business days.

What?

So, guess what my only option is now? Yep. I have to withdraw $3000 in cash…in front of a huge crowd of people, and then walk that money a few blocks away and deposit it into Bank A. I don’t think I have to tell you the risk of doing this, not to mention the looks I get from the bank employees for withdrawing large sums of cash.

Can I take it one step further for you? In some banks that I have to deal with, I can’t transfer money from a biz account to a personal account online. I can’t do it by linking the accounts…not by setting them up as a payee…nothing. So, if I wanted to move money from a chequing account to the credit card…in the same bank…I still have to go down to the branch and do it in person.

Don’t get me wrong, on some level I understand. If someone hacks your account, or some employee you just fired gets down to the bank before you’ve had their name removed, they can do less damage with these restraints in place. But once again, for the 99% of businesses that don’t encounter or cause this type of theft, it’s just a huge pain in the butt.

In another post, I’ll explain why these frequent trips to the branch can actually do some good. Until then, I’ll leave you with a simple plea to the Canadian banks.

I understand fraud is very real. If my account was cleaned out, I’d be devastated. But…setup a system with 2 simple rules.

1. Make it hard for anyone other than me to alter my account. Give me an electronic token, force me to use 20 character passwords…whatever. I’ll live with that.

2. Once you have proven that it’s me…let me do whatever I want with my money.

There we go…simple enough, eh?

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Google Adwords is Google’s pay-per-click model meaning your ads can appear on the first page of Google for a number of given search terms that you select, but you only pay when someone actually clicks on your ad.  As you set up your campaign, here are a few key things to keep in mind:

Critical Error #1 – Setting Up Campaigns and Ad Groups Wrong

Your campaign is the overarching theme of what you are advertising.  Say you sell men’s shoes.  Your campaign could simply be titled “men’s shoes”.  Your ad groups, however, need to be the specific niches within the theme like:

Men’s dress shoes

Men’s work shoes

Men’s’ running shoes

…etc.

Critical Error #2 – Not Using Negative Keywords

When building your keyword lists for your ad groups, you’ll also want to build negative keywords. These are words that you tell Adwords not to trigger your ads for like free, inexpensive, cheap, etc.

Simply click on the keyword tab, scroll to the bottom, and you’ll see where to enter the negative keywords.

Critical Error #3 – Not Split Testing Your Ads

You’ll never know what people respond to until you try different kinds of ad copy.  Do this: create two different ads for each ad group, run them for a couple weeks, and see which one does better.  Then, delete the weaker and try to outperform the stronger.  This will not only bring you more traffic, but Google will reward you by lowering your cost per click.

These few tips will help to create a better overall experience with your Adwords campaign.  Like I mentioned, there are many effective ways on how to advertise your business, but Adwords provides the quickest way to get to the first page of Google.

This guest post was contributed by Brandon Jones. Brandon Jones is a Google Certified Partner.  He publishes free internet marketing tips on his blog www.MyGoogleMarketing.net.

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I just wanted to let you know about a guest post I did over at the Freshbooks blog. They’re starting a Tax Thursday series over there, to help get you prepared for April. They’re kicking off the series with my post called “It’s never too early to prepare for tax season“.

If that sounds like something you’d be interested in reading, I hope you’ll check it out. If you don’t already, you should definitely start following their blog. They always have great advice for small business owners.

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You may or may not have noticed that the frequency of posts here has diminished greatly over the past couple of months. I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad thing if you haven’t.

This site has been so effective in connecting me with business owners, that my bookkeeping workload has skyrocketed over the past 6 months. So much so, that I simply haven’t had a lot of time to devote to anything beyond client work. That’s not to say that I’m not taking on new clients. I think I just take too long to write each post.

This morning it got me thinking about advertising. In the beginning, that’s what this site was all about. I practically live online, and had a very small budget to get this business started. Getting a site with a blog up and running was always a big priority. Given the fact that I can work with people all over North America, running a traditional ad campaign was not only financially unfeasible, but inefficient.

The big surprise along the way was just how much I would enjoy updating the blog. It’s certainly grown to become something much more than just advertising for my bookkeeping services. It gives me a chance to connect with other great entrepreneurs. I’m sure I’ve learned more about business from all of you than you have from me.

That brings me to a question that I’m sure lots of businesses encounter. How much advertising should you be doing when you get close to your work limit?

Let’s say you teach music for a living. You’ve done a great job of marketing your school, and you’re schedule is completely full. Should you still advertise the school? If you have to keep sending people away when they call, does that increase demand, or just put people off?

When Nintendo had problems keeping enough Wii’s on the shelf, the demand skyrocketed. For the first year, anytime retail stores restocked their shelves, they were immediately snatched up, for fear that they’d be sold out again. This “difficulty” in keeping up with demand (I’m pretty sure they did all of this on purpose) caused it to be, in my opinion, a much bigger seller than it would have if they had flooded the market with units.

On the other hand, it can have the opposite effect. Sometimes people will just get tired of waiting, and will find another similar product or competing store. I’m sure plenty of families decided to buy a Playstation 3 or XBOX 360, instead of waiting for Nintendo to boost production.

What do you think? If you know you’re running out of products, or just hours in the day to devote to work, do you change your advertising?

Personally, I don’t think you should, but it all depends on how you handle the potential customers. The reason you started your business was to solve a problem. Yes, it was also to make a ton of money, but that’s the byproduct of solving the problem.

Before you reach capacity, you should reach out to peers in your market, and setup a referral network. Try to find a wide range of peers. If you reach your work limit, you’ll want to refer a prospective client to someone very similar to you. Other times you’ll be contacted by someone who needs help with an area of your field that you’re not as qualified for. Maybe you’re a great web designer, but you don’t know a lot about eCommerce sites. For a music teacher, maybe you specialize in rock, but your student is asking about jazz.

Just remember; this person is coming to you for help solving a problem. By referring them to someone else, you’re still helping. Although you didn’t get the payment, all they remember is that you helped them out. There’s a good chance that the next time they need help, they’ll ask you first. Eventually, you’ll be in a position to do the work yourself.

I’d like to hear your opinions. Do you have a referral network? Do you plan on starting one? Do you alter your advertising when your workload is full?

PS. If you’re a fellow bookkeeper, why not contact me so we can join forces?

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1. I was a teen, and therefore accepted the fact that most places were going to treat me like a criminal.
2. I wasn’t usually buying anything so valuable that it required special attention or support.
3. If I was at a bank; I didn’t pay fees, and never had enough money to worry about.

Basically, my needs were small, as were my expectations.

Now that I’m older, I’m far more careful with every dollar I spend. Spending my paycheque on some new shoes or a car stereo made perfect sense at 16. Thinking about that now makes me want to go back in time and slap myself.

There’s also far more companies fighting for my attention. While there were only a handful of stores trying to sell me shoes at 16, there are hundreds who want me to test out their accounting software, WordPress plugin, or social media app.

Some of these companies think that a loud voice and a blowout sale is all they need to get my money. Thankfully, there are a select few who actually do it the right way.

Recent Example

Simply Accounting: I needed to use this for some client work recently. I’ve used it in the past, but Quickbooks has been my default for many years. So, I downloaded a trial copy so I could get a sense for what version would be the best choice.

A few days after starting my trial, I received an email and phone call from Mavys at Simply Accounting. Instead of the usual cookie-cutter welcome email, it was very friendly, and pointed me to information very specific to bookkeepers using their products.

Based solely on the quality of the email, I replied back and asked a question. This question was one that I had sent to Intuit and had been disappointed with their response.

The question

I am working with clients in both Canada and the US now. I haven’t had a need for a US version of Quickbooks or Simply yet, but it might come up in the future. My Quickbooks Pro Advisor membership gives me copies of the Canadian version, but not the US. I wanted to know if I had access to a US version of the software.

The responses

Intuit: No would have been a bad enough response. What I got was quite a bit more disappointing. First off, no, I don’t have access to a US version of the software. Furthermore, I would have to contact someone at Intuit in the US and purchase it separately. I couldn’t even get the product from my contact in Canada. Finally, I was told that installing both versions on the same computer causes problems, so they recommended I have 2 computers setup, so that I could run each version on its own computer. Seriously? Who would buy a 2nd computer just to run another accounting app?

Simply Accounting: Mavys, who is officially my favourite person at Simply Accounting had a much better response. When I’m ready to buy my copy, all I need to do is ask, and she will make sure I have both the US and Canadian versions included…at no extra cost. Plus, there are no issues running both apps on the same system.

Now what?

I don’t want to give you the wrong impression. One question answered well doesn’t mean I’m suddenly dropping Quickbooks. I’ve been using it for years, and I know all of the keyboard shortcuts.

On the other hand, Simply is now on my radar again. I’m going to buy a slightly more expensive version than I had originally intended, in order to sign up for their equivalent of Intuit’s Pro Advisor program. Like anything new, I resist it because of the unfamiliarity. However, there’s no guarantee that, once I’ve become accustomed to it, I won’t end up liking it more.

The simple fact is that a phone call and email that took less than 5 minutes has resulted in $400 worth of sales and a blog post.

Now it’s your turn

Instead of a stock auto-responder (or  nothing at all), why not spend the time to personalize your interactions with your new customers? Take 5 minutes to learn something about them. You can do this by crafting a better contact form (something I need to do), or checking out their website. Then, take that information, and spend another 5 minutes writing a more tailored email, welcoming them to your product/service.

It doesn’t seem like much, but with so many people fighting for your customer base, every little gesture helps.

Do you have any good tips? Have you figured out a way to gain customers by adding a personal touch to your interactions? Please share your advice in the comments.

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